Olympic swimmer Roy-Allen Burch was on hand in Carolina over the weekend to inspire Warwick Academy’s high-performance swim team to a string of medals and personal bests.

Burch’s former coach Ben Smith, who oversees Bermuda’s national programme was in charge of the trip to the Holiday Invitational meet and was pleased with the competition schedule.

“Usually this time of year we go to a competition in Florida and I was looking around for a different competition with multiple layers to it that would give opportunities for all of our swimmers to be pushed,” Smith said.

“I travelled to Charlotte for competitions in the past and when I was coaching Roy Allan Burch we would go there. I knew the facility and that it was an easy to get around, so when I found the meet that would fit in with our schedule, I thought it was a great chance to go.”

With plenty of medals to be won over the course of the three-day meet, Smith was pleased with how the talented young swimmers performed

“We always look at it in terms of personal-best swims,” Smith said. “The Bermuda season started in September and these athletes have been training with the Warwick programme five mornings a week with the idea this trip would be the first peak of the season.

“We had an amazing showing and they actually swam the way coaches draw up. They competed very well in the heats, in many cases they got a personal best in the morning and then swam faster again in the final, which is what we were looking for. We had several athletes make A finals and come away winning events and we won both of our relays.”

The talented young swimmers from Warwick are the latest to benefit from a programme introduced by Smith for five years.

“The main reason that we put it in place is there has been quite a shift in Bermuda where athletes are having to leave to go to prep schools in the UK, Canada and the US in order to further their sports career,” Smith said.

“We wanted to give an opportunity locally for swimmers to be able to train and have competitions at the level that would allow them to be recruited to universities and also put them in a position to continue their swimming career.”

Smith was pleased to see his swimmers gaining some deserved reward with the intensity of training needed to compete at the highest levels requiring the utmost dedication.

“Swimming is a difficult sport because of the time you have to put into it,” Smith said.

“It’s a repetition sport, it’s about doing your best stroke over and over again hours per day. Most of them do five mornings a week and afternoons too, so it could be seven to nine weekly sessions.

“They also have a strength and conditioning element within the school day. They have to watch their nutrition, do flexibility exercises so it is a lot of physical and mental work to allow them to perform at this level but one of the most important things is what it’s meant for their academics.

“As a student athlete, it doesn’t make sense for them to not be able to perform in the classroom. We’ve been putting swimmers into university since the programme started not just from what they are doing in the pool but their grade-point average has been outstanding because they learn the work ethic, set goals and it shows up in the classroom.”

The next few month features a host of competition as Smith is tasked with the opportunity of selecting squads for the Carifta Games and the 2023 Central American and Caribbean Games in El Salvador

“These swimmers compete for clubs and are hoping to make it at National level. In January there will be two long-course championships that will happen and both of those are opportunities to qualify for Carifta Games and CCan so it is the springboard for international competition.